I love this salad—it’s so fresh and clean-tasting. Sometimes I make a meal of it. Because I really want you to make this salad, I’m calling for store-bought fillets. But if you have a whole striped bass that you’ve filleted, this salad is a great way to use odds and ends from the fish. Poach the fish head and the belly parts you’ve trimmed from the fillets in the court bouillon. Remove the meat from the cheeks and along the top of the head, and trim the bellies of bones and skin. I like the crushed red pepper to be conspicuous in this salad, so don’t be afraid to use it. Start with about 1/2 teaspoon and go from there. And don’t throw the cooking liquid out: save it to make the salad nice and juicy. You could use crabmeat or even chicken instead, I guess, but white fish, like the bass, is perfect prepared this way.

　　

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

　　Court bouillon (see preceding recipe)

　　1 large cucumber

　　1 medium red onion, sliced thin (about 1 cup)

　　2 to 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh Italian parsley

　　1 pound striped-bass fillets or steaks or any other firm-fleshed fish, like sea bass or black bass, or head and trimmings from a 5-pound whole fish

　　1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or as needed

　　3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar, or as needed

　　Crushed hot red pepper

　　Salt

　　

Step 1

Prepare the court bouillon as described in preceding recipe, but use white-wine vinegar instead of white wine. While it is simmering, trim the ends from the cucumber, peel it, and cut it in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds—or leave them in if you like them—and cut the cucumber pieces into half-moons. Place the cucumber, red onion, and parsley in a mixing bowl.

　　

Step 2

Slide the bass into the boiling court bouillon and reduce the heat immediately to a simmer. Cook until the fish “opens up”—barely starts to flake—about 8 minutes. Remove the fillets and cool them to room temperature. Peel off the skin if necessary, and scrape or cut away the soft, darker meat from the skin side of the fillet. Flake the fish into big pieces, removing any bones and adding the fish pieces to the mixing bowl as you do.

　　

Step 3

Drizzle the olive oil and vinegar over the salad and toss to mix. Season generously with crushed red pepper and salt to taste. Spoon in enough of the reserved cooking liquid to make the salad nice and juicy. Taste the salad, adding more vinegar, salt, or crushed red pepper if you like. Mound the salad high on a deep serving platter and spoon the juices left in the bowl over it. If you like, drizzle olive oil onto the platter around the salad.

　　Cooks' Note

　　In preparing the court bouillon, substitute white-wine vinegar for the dry white wine. The vinegar will help keep the fish fillets in this recipe intact, but it can toughen shrimp and other shellfish. That’s why I use dry white wine in the court bouillon in the preceding recipe.

　　From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Copyright © 2001 by A La Carte Communications and Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Buy the full book from Amazon.